New Chargers head coach McCoy, who has been a student of football since he was a child, known for his thoroughness, dedication to sport

Mike McCoy speaks on a headset during a news conference after being named coach of the San Diego Chargers NFL football team, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, in San Diego. The former offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos replaces Norv Turner, who was fired along with general manager A.J. Smith after the Chargers finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
— AP

Mike McCoy speaks on a headset during a news conference after being named coach of the San Diego Chargers NFL football team, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, in San Diego. The former offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos replaces Norv Turner, who was fired along with general manager A.J. Smith after the Chargers finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
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In one respect, the devil truly was in the details. Frank McCoy chose not to share those gruesome details with his family.

For 22 of his 26 years with the San Francisco Police Department, McCoy was a homicide inspector, and he saw things on the job that no one but a trained professional should ever have to witness, let alone process. Heading home at night to Marin County, he made sure the details of his daily shift were checked on the city side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I was always taught by the doctors I worked with and fellow police people that when you left the office, you left it in the office,” said McCoy, now retired except for a bit of private-investigative work. “You don’t take it home.”

On the other hand, a dogged attention to detail must be among the most valuable assets for a detective handling murder cases. Making his first appearance as the Chargers’ new head coach on Tuesday, to be sure, Mike McCoy acted and sounded very much like his father’s son.

Coming to the Chargers after three years as offensive coordinator of the rival Denver Broncos, McCoy arrived in San Diego with a reputation for flexibility, the ability to adapt his strategies to the distinct skills of his players. Where no one else seemed willing or able to put an offense in the hands of scrambling, fullback-sized quarterback Tim Tebow, McCoy called the nonconventional plays that Tebow used to put the Broncos in the playoffs two seasons ago, and the young coach had had similar success with more-typical quarterbacks before that.

Above all, though, what struck the Chargers most about McCoy was his preparation. The thoroughness. The fact that no stone was unturned.

“They all laughed at me when I walked in with all of these books and binders,” said McCoy, referring to his San Diego interview for Norv Turner’s old job. “That is my life’s work. We have a detailed plan here that Tom (Telesco, the Chargers’ general manager) and I are going to put together.

“All of the schedules we are doing for (organized team activities), minicamps, how the players are going to eat during training camp, meals, times of practices, how we are going to go on the road if we are going to the East Coast, if we are leaving on Fridays or Saturdays for road trips. We are going to have a detailed plan.”

‘There’s Mike!’

With the announcement of his hiring by the Chargers, McCoy’s words and image were replayed across the country on various sports channels, including the one that happened to be playing on the television in a Seattle restaurant where Brett Carolan and other parents from his daughter’s softball team were meeting.

“I look up and there’s Mike — Mike! — on the screen,” said Carolan, a financial planner who played football at Washington State. “I couldn’t stop smiling. I still can’t, because I know what kind of a guy he is, the work ethic he has and the sacrifices he made to get there.”